News

Matthew Dodt, 53,aka "Midnight Matt", who defended himself with a camping knife from tree invasion in his tree in People's Park only to wind up in Santa Rita Jail, was released shortly before midnight Monday, according to a releasing officer at the jail.

He served 61 days in Santa Rita and 91 days in the tree. The synchronicity is in there somewhere.
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On Saturday, April 2, 2011 at approximately 3:30 p.m. the City of Berkeley Police Department (BPD) got a call from a resident in the 3200 block of Shattuck Avenue who reported that a man was firing a handgun in the rear yard of a nearby residence. BPD Officers responded immediately and met with the witness/caller who pointed out the home to the officers. Officers contacted the occupants who complied with officers’ orders to exit the home. During the process, a Pit-bull dog came out of the residence and refused to comply with the verbal commands issued by one of the occupants. The dog then growled and lunged at one of the officers causing that officer to fear for his safety. This officer fired one round from his pistol at the dog and it died instantly.
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The City of Berkeley is once again considering action on an anti-sitting ordinance, which would single out homeless people for ticketing, arrests, and possible jail if they are found sitting on the sidewalk in commercial districts. This "perennial weed" (anti-sitting/lying initiatives) is resurfacing, of course, in the worst economic recession in many years, and distracts our community from the step-by-step continued hard work we need to take toward ending homelessness.

Street Spirit will have material about this in its upcoming April issue. Homeless youth are a key target of the proposed effort--yet Berkeley currently has no drop in center for homeless young people and also only has a six month youth shelter with room for 25 young people open from 8pm til 8am. Where do folks expect youth to SIT, if not on the street, with no place to go!!!

The City of Berkeley Chamber of Commerce will be considering whether to push forward as the leader in this fight at its meeting on Monday April 4 Noon to 1pm at the Chamber office located at: 1834 University Avenue--near MLK.
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The Planet at 9:21 on Saturday night received an email from Zviki ben Yishay, who lives in Los Angeles, alleging that Berkeley police officers shot and killed a pet dog belonging to his brother, who lives on Shattuck Avenue in South Berkeley. This is what he wrote:
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We've been told that some readers didn't know that the Point Molate "story" below was an April Fool's joke cleverly hatched by Tom Butt, and that "There is a casino hearing on Tuesday and this could easily trick a lot of people (who want to voice their opinions on the casino) into missing the hearing." Don't be fooled any longer. April Fool's day is over.
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If you are throwing a retirement bash billed as "Berkeley Loves Mario and Rosalinda" (Tejada)—Berkeley had better mean it.

Boy, did Berkeley mean it, as hundreds jammed Mario's La Fiesta, next to Amoeba on Haste Thursday night for a lavish spread, free bar, and Mariachi band to pour out its heart to South side Berkeley's favorite couple.
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Bay Area residents are dusting off their telescopes and braving chilly evening breezes in hopes of catching a glimpse of the planet Saturn, which is poised for optimal viewing during the month of April. Saturn will be at opposition beginning Sunday night, meaning it will position itself along a straight line with the Earth and sun, said Jeffrey Silverman, public liaison for the University of California at Berkeley's Astronomy Department. Silverman said the department calendar has no special event planned for the ringed planet's shining moment because the phenomenon itself is not that extraordinary. "Saturn is going to be slightly more interesting to look at, but not much," he said. "At opposition, its rings brighten for a few days, but beyond that, opposition doesn't mean anything really special for observers on Earth," he said. Still, a casual observer will note Saturn as one of the brightest objects in the night sky seen with the naked eye beginning Sunday until about the end of summer, Silverman said. More ambitious enthusiasts can use shorter-range telescopes to spot the planet's lustrous hoops and maybe a small moon or two.
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At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Sean Elsbernd announced a new development strategy inspired by the proposed Parkmerced project. Under the new “Transit Oriented Demolition and Development” plan, the City will offer incentives to developers that agree to demolish existing low-density residential neighborhoods with older housing (“TODD zones”) and replace them with higher density, “transit oriented” development.

Berkeley officials who declined to be identified endorsed a similar proposal for the low-density area around the North Berkeley BART station, although they also declined to reveal the details of the plan.
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Berkeley school Superintendent Bill Huyett said today that he is considering a variety of measures to improve safety at Berkeley High School, where there have been a number of gun-related incidents this year.
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“On Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at about 3:10 p.m., the City of Berkeley Police Department (BPD) received a call from a Berkeley High School (BHS) staff member. The staff member reported that a parent had shared that he/she had seen a young man with a possible black gun in his waistband on the western perimeter of the campus. BPD Officers, Sergeants and a Lieutenant arrived at the school within 30 seconds of the call and began doing area checks for the young man who had been described. A BHS Safety officer followed the subject at a distance and reported that he was last seen on Martin Luther King Jr. Way just north of Bancroft Way.”
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The Planet has been contacted on behalf of Metallic Lathers Union Local 46, a New York City construction union that has been engaged in an effort to educate the public about the irresponsible practices of Sam Zell's development company, Equity Residential.
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The Coalition against BAYER Dangers has introduced countermotions to BAYER´s Annual Shareholder Meeting on April 29. Environmental and social justice organizations [have asked to] discuss the proposals within the meeting. About 4,000 shareholders are expected to attend.

Beekeepers from all over Germany will conduct a rally at the entrance of the Cologne Fair to protest against BAYER´s bee-killing pesticides clothianidin and imidacloprid. Additional topics of the protests will be deformities caused by the hormone pregnancy test Primodos, accidents in BAYER plants, union busting and layoffs, side effects of the birth control pill Yaz, BAYER´s advocacy for nuclear power and the contamination of conventional rice by genetically modified strains.
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Three weeks after the Japanese nuclear power plant disaster began, many U.S. residents are fearful about the possible health effects of radiation traveling across the Pacific. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), an independent scientific research-based environmental advocacy group, has been monitoring the crisis closely. Below are some frequently asked questions from the UCS website regarding the health consequences of the Fukushima disaster, as well as information shared at news briefings by David Lochbaum and Edwin Lyman, nuclear safety experts with the UCS:
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Berkeley residents have a telescope trained on the struggle to tame Japanese nuclear reactors damaged by the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11th. To discover if the radioactive emissions are reaching California, U.C. Berkeley graduate students worked through Spring Break to establish the Berkeley Radiological Air and Water Monitoring Team. They are publishing their data, to the Internet as quickly as they can collect and analyze samples.
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California faces a crisis of students not completing high school. In an effort to develop solutions combating the systemic problems of truancy, dropouts, exclusionary discipline, and a large school-to-prison pipeline, Golden Gate University is proud to host California Senator Mark Leno and Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Fiona Ma in a two- part series of discussions with bay area students, parents, and community. The event is sponsored by Dignity In Schools student organization at Golden Gate University, and is supported by a coalition of community organizations, as well as the following student organizations at Golden Gate University: Queer Law Student Association (QLSA), Black Law Students Association (BLSA), La Raza, ACLU, National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), and the American Constitution Society (ACS). Assemblywoman Ma will be speaking on Friday, April 8th from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, and Senator Leno will be speaking on Saturday, April 16th, 9:00 am - 12:00 noon.
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